In which a veteran of cultural studies seminars in the 1990's moves into academic administration and finds himself a married suburban father of two. Foucault, plus lawn care. Comments are welcome. Comments for general readership can be posted directly after the blog entry. For private comments, I can be reached at deandad at gmail dot com. The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of commenters), and not those of my (unnamed) employer.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Go, Canada!

I heard this morning that Canada’s Senate passed a national same-sex marriage bill, which the Prime Minister will sign today in Ottawa. (I think I got those details right.)

Go, Canada!

Regular readers know that I value my wife and kids tremendously. I literally can’t imagine life without them. The Wife, who outclasses me on every level, is lovely, sane, incredibly smart, and a fantastic mom. I’m lucky to have found her, and lucky to have been able to marry her.

To be deprived of the right to marry the love of your life would be devastating.

Incredibly, in America, the sentence above marks me as an elitist blue-state liberal.

It’s common sense.

Elitism has nothing to do with anything. My support for gay marriage isn’t elitist; it’s humble. I don’t have the right or the power or the moral standing to decide with whom others should take comfort when the world is cold. The gay couples I know, and there are many, are couples. They do things like shop at Home Depot and complain about property taxes and have mixed success growing tomatoes.

To the extent that America notices, and can be inspired by example, the Canadian law gives this straight American hope. The contrast with our new Supreme Court nominee is striking, and saddening. Tonight, I tip a Molson’s in honor of our neighbor to the North.